Uprooted: Gardening and Landscaping During the Japanese-American
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Uprooted: Gardening and Landscaping
During the Japanese-American
Internment
Amber Suto
California State University Fullerton
Robert Voeks
California State University Fullerton
Abstract
Gardens constitute a nexus between culture and constructed nature.
For diaspora communities, they often stand as material reflections
of the process of cultural continuity and assimilation. In the case of
forced immigrants, such as the incarceration of roughly 120,000
Nikkei (Japanese Americans) during World War II, the degree to
which they were able to reconstruct features of the gardens of their
homelands is particularly instructive. Using primary sources in
public archives, we investigate how interned Nikkei used gardening
to endure their incarceration and to recultivate their traditional
relationships with nature. For Nikkei internees, gardens provided a
wealth of material and psychological benefits. Because the camps
were typically at locations largely devoid of vegetation, gardens
provided a means to making their forced incarceration in hostile
landscapes more habitable. Most importantly, because camp gardens
were explicit celebrations of Japanese heritage, they constituted
subtle acts of political resistance.
Keywords: gardens, internment camp, sense of place, Nikkei,
cultural marker, diaspora
Uprooted, thrown in a pile, side of the road. But remember, rise again
and full bloom once again.
—poem by internee Yoriyuki Kikuchi (CSU Fullerton Oral
History Collection 1974)
Introduction
GARDENS CONSTITUTE VITAL physical and psychological connections between
people and constructed nature. They have deep historical roots in all
sedentary societies, past and present, and they are as varied in form and
function as they are in significance to their human creators. For the
Aztecs, chinampa floating gardens supplied food for the masses as well
as pleasure gardens for elites (Dunmire 2004, 32–46). For ancient
The California Geographer 60, © 2021 by The California Geographical Society
Egyptians, funerary gardens gave Pharaohs the promise of ritually and lovingly executed in both the temporary assembly centers and the
significant plants in the afterlife (Katz 2018). And for colonial Europeans, internment camps. In this article, we explore the relationship between
botanical gardens served to recreate the healing flora of the biblical nature and immigrant peoples by investigating how interned Nikkei used
Garden of Eden (Drayton 2000, 11). Modern gardens continue to serve gardens to endure their incarceration and to recreate elements of their
various individual and community functions, such as aesthetics in rose Japanese botanical heritage.
gardens, health in healing gardens, experiential education in school
gardens, and meditation in temple gardens (Thacker 1979; Hartig and Methods
Marcus 2006). Among the myriad types and objectives of garden space, We examined primary Japanese internment resources through content
home gardens and other family or multifamily efforts are perhaps the and textual analysis of various digital archives. These include the US
most ubiquitous and culturally significant. National Park Service’s Confinement and Ethnicity: An Overview of World War
II Japanese American Relocation Sites, the DenshoBlog, the
Since people first came to occupy permanent dwellings, home gardens Japanese-American collections of the Lawrence de Graaf Center for Oral
have served as readily accessible sources of vegetables and fruits, and Public History (CSU Fullerton), the National Endowment for the
medicines, and spices, as well as spaces for rest and contemplation Humanities’ Chronicling America archive, the Oral History Center of the
(Doolittle 2004). According to Kimber (2004, 267), home gardens are Bancroft Library (UC Berkeley), Washington State University Digital
“culturally controlled” biogeographical communities that are Archives, the Tessa Digital Collections (Los Angeles Public Library), the
“heterogeneous and multilayered, with many shrub and tree species Hirasaki National Resource Center (Japanese American National
among the herbaceous species, including weeds,” which are often Museum), and the Calisphere Collections (University of California). The
considered useful. They represent vibrant social spaces where Densho collection was also consulted for original internment newspaper
horticultural history is constructed and transferred, and where botanical accounts, especially the Santa Anita Pacemaker, the Manzanar Free Press, and
resources contribute to economic livelihoods and nutritional security the Poston Press Bulletin, all written and edited by Japanese Americans
(Ban and Coomes 2004). They have been crucial sources of vegetables and during their internment.
fruit during global conflicts, termed war gardens early on but later and
more patriotically, victory gardens (Young and Young 2010, 744–748). Historical Context
Home gardens are often gendered spaces, with women’s gardens often In the spring of 1882, the U.S. passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, barring
supplying vegetables and spices for domestic use, whereas men’s gardens any further passage of Chinese immigrants into the country (Garrison
often orient toward commercially valuable plants (Reyes-Garcia et al. 2015; Hirahara 2000). The resultant surge in demand for non-Chinese
2010). They can be rich in crop varieties and genetic diversity (Blancas immigrant labor, especially by the agricultural and railroad sectors,
et al. 2010; Zimmerer and de Haan 2019), and many spontaneous species, would coincide with the exodus of enterprising young Japanese men and
especially weeds, serve as both food and medicine (Voeks 2004). women leaving their home country in search of greater opportunities
(Fukusawa 1974; Hirahara 2000; Garrison 2015). This wave of
Among diaspora groups, whether migrating from rural to urban first-generation Japanese immigrants—known as the Issei—would build
landscapes (WinklerPrins and de Souza 2005), or from international new homes and lives in America.
destinations, gardens constitute highly visible reflections of the process
of cultural continuity and assimilation (Kimber 2004). They are spaces While the Issei varied in educational and professional backgrounds
where botanical traditions are maintained and reformulated. A before arriving in the U.S., many found employment in the agricultural
particularly poignant example of immigrants using gardens and and landscaping fields. The World’s Fairs of the late nineteenth century
gardening to reestablish a sense of place and ethnic space occurred in the had popularized Japanese gardens as status symbols amongst the wealthy,
Western United States soon after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. and Issei were employed in large numbers to care for the lawns and
On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order No. gardens of well-to-do white Americans as early as 1891 (Hirahara 2000).
9066, causing the incarceration of roughly 120,000 Nikkei in the interest Though some had prior horticultural experience and sought this type of
of “military necessity.” While driven from their homes and into new, work, others were forced into it due to limited English skills and racist
oppressive environments, Nikkei managed not only to survive their legislation (Hirahara 2000; Helphand 2006). Issei and their
confinement, but to recreate a biogeographical sense of place within it. American-born children, the Nisei, overwhelmingly worked on farms,
Hundreds of gardens and associated landscaping projects were conceived orchards, residential gardens, and nurseries, and came to hold an ethnic
74 The California Geographer • Volume 60, 2021 Suto and Voeks: Uprooted: Gardening and Landscaping 75
monopoly over the gardening and landscaping fields (Tamura 2004, 2012; the internment camps at Manzanar, Heart Mountain, Jerome, Minidoka,
Garrison 2015). Perhaps for fear of this success, racially charged Poston, and Topaz (Hirahara 2000; Dusselier 2008).
legislation was passed at the federal and state levels. The 1907–1908
Gentlemen’s Agreement and the Immigration Act of 1924 restricted and Most of these victory gardens were structured similarly to modern
then barred Japanese immigration. In addition, a variety of Alien Land community gardens, with a large plot of land subdivided into sections
Laws prevented Issei from owning, leasing, or sharecropping land. Yet assigned to individuals or families. Others were of formidable size.
Japanese Americans continued to prosper (Garrison 2015). By 1934, more Spanning 2,000 acres, Heart Mountain garden headlined in the Heart
than one-third of the Nikkei labor force in Los Angeles were employed Mountain Sentinel as “West Coast Pioneers Labor on Virgin Soil (Heart
in gardening or landscaping, and their success seemed likely to continue Mountain Sentinel 8 May 1943, 5). As an internee reported, “One would be
(Hirahara 2000). amazed to note how a handful of seeds sewn below eaves and between
buildings can make a bountiful supply of food, pleasure and satisfaction”
The lives built by the Nikkei were upended, however, by the racial frenzy (Poston Press Bulletin 5 August 1942). The gardens’ popularity was
following the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor. The hysteria emphasized in the minutes of a meeting of the Heart Mountain Victory
culminated in President Roosevelt’s signing of Executive Order No. 9066 Gardeners’ Association, in which they noted receipt of an additional
on February 19, 1942, uprooting Japanese Americans living in “military twenty applications for new gardens and were concerned they would run
strategic areas,” primarily along the west coast (Hirahara 2000). Though out of suitable land (HMVG 1943). One hundred internees ultimately
the order offered flexibility to “self-evacuate” to other parts of the country, collaborated on a single victory garden at this camp (Figures 1–2).
many states banned Nikkei from crossing their borders.
Japanese-American families were thus forced to participate in the Figure 1.—A victory garden at
government-led evacuation carried out by the newly founded War Heart Mountain, 1944
Relocation Authority (WRA) (Garrison 2015). Given between six and (Hatchimonji Collection, Densho
twenty-one days to settle their affairs and pack only essentials, Nikkei Digital Repository).
were incarcerated at temporary holding centers for several months,
followed by the more-permanent internment camps. Despite the apparent
“military necessity” of internment, no evidence arose during the war or
after of Nikkei spying on the U.S. for Japan (Tamura 2004).
Internment Gardens
Victory Gardens
Victory gardens were heavily promoted by the U.S. government to reduce
strain on national resources that might be redirected toward the war.
They were marketed as a means of providing patriotic recreation and Figure 2.—Kumezo Hatchimonji, a
stress relief, as well as contributing to an Allied victory (Lawson 2014). leader in the creation of victory
Garden tenders on the home front were cast as soldiers, and according gardens at Heart Mountain, stands
to one government-distributed handbook, weeds and other garden pests in one of them, 1943 (Hatchimonji
were “miniature Japanazis” to be obliterated without hesitation (USDA Collection, Densho Digital
1942, 8). The irony of embracing the victory garden concept did not escape Repository).
interned Japanese Americans. They were aware that they may well be
uprooted again before being able to reap the fruits of their harvest
(Helphand 2006, 157). But they were keen to show they could be counted
on to do their part in the war effort. And they were eager to improve their
diet. Victory gardens were cultivated at the temporary assembly centers
at the Fresno County Fairgrounds and Santa Anita Racetrack, as well as
76 The California Geographer • Volume 60, 2021 Suto and Voeks: Uprooted: Gardening and Landscaping 77On the one hand, the popularity of internment victory gardens can be Figure 3.—Pool in Pleasure
attributed to practicality. They supplemented food provided by the WRA Park, Manzanar Relocation
mess halls, granting internees a greater volume and variety of produce. Center, California.
By all accounts, the victory gardens tended by internees were highly Photograph by Ansel Adams,
productive. Heart Mountain’s victory gardeners were urged to limit the 1943 (Library of Congress).
size of their gardens to restrict the selling of surplus crops (HMVG 1943).
Manzanar’s officials boasted that their three-acre victory garden produced
3,000 crates of produce in a single month (WRA 1942). The contributions
provided by victory garden crops met enthusiasm and gratitude: The Santa
Anita Pacemaker spent several issues in July 1942 following the progress of
the victory gardens, culminating in the harvest of thirty-five crates of
napa (Chinese cabbage) and 297 dozen bunches of radishes (Santa Anita
Pacemaker 1942a; 1942b; 1942c). The Manzanar Free Press reported in June
1942 on its first crop of thirty-five crates of radishes. Some of the crops Uyematsu was also invested in the creation of Cherry Park, located just
grown in Manzanar, such as napa and daikon, were especially important south of the orphanage known as “Children’s Village” (Figure 4). With
for their role in Japanese cuisine—a rare treat within the camps, as the special permission from the WRA, Uyematsu returned to his personal
mess halls typically served only Western-style food. A particularly business, Star Nursery, and collected more than one thousand plants,
appreciated victory garden product was tsukemono (pickled garden which he donated to the park (WRA 1942). This included some five
vegetables) (Manzanar Free Press 10 September 1943, 14). hundred cherry trees, twenty wisteria vines, and an assortment of
camellias and other plants (Burton et al. 2003).
Parks
Parks were the largest of the ornamental gardens created at the camps. Mess Hall
These impressive landscaping projects required considerable investment Gardens
of time and resources. Benefitting the entire camp community, however, “Mess hall gardens”
they were well worth the effort. While it is known that parks were or “block gardens,” as
installed at multiple temporary assembly centers and camps, the best implied in the name,
records are of the parks at Manzanar, which provide considerable insight sat adjacent to the
into their variety and complexity. mess halls in many
blocks of the camps.
Merritt Park, located in the fire break between Blocks 23 and 33, is The concept was
considered the largest garden in any of the internment camps (Burton et pioneered by Harry
al. 2003; Tamura 2012). With the blessing of the WRA, internees Ueno early in his
Kuichiro Nishi and Francis Miyosaku Uyematsu, both former incarceration at
nurserymen, designed what they originally envisioned as “Rose Park.” Manzanar. While
When construction began in the fall of 1942, supervised by Tak Muto, a Figure 4.—Harry Matsumoto, superintendent of Children’s waiting in line for
“well known San Fernando floriculturalist,” numerous domestic rosebuds Village, sits with his charges at what is most likely Cherry food at a neighboring
were acquired and had to be grafted to native root stock (Manzanar Free Park, 1942 (CSU Japanese-American Digitization mess hall, Ueno
Press 5 May 1942). As the project grew in size and complexity, it was Project).Figure 4: Harry Matsumoto, superintendent of recognized the un-
renamed “Pleasure Park” and then “Merritt Park,” in honor of Ralph Children’s Village, sits with his charges at what is most pleasant conditions—
Merritt, the WRA Director of Manzanar (NPSPWR 2006). The park likely Cherry Park, 1942 (CSU Japanese-American scorching sun and
contained more than one hundred species of flowering plants, two lakes, Digitization Project). constant dust—and
a waterfall, a bridge, a tea house, and numerous pine trees (Figure 3), a decided change was
testimonial “to the Japanese people’s traditional love of nature” (Manzanar necessary:
Free Press 8 October 1942, 1).
78 The California Geographer • Volume 60, 2021 Suto and Voeks: Uprooted: Gardening and Landscaping 79And so I talked to one of, friend of mine working in the mess hall, June 1942 by William Katsuki, a former landscaper from Bel Air (Figure
said, “How about we dig the big pond there? We get plenty of water 6). This feat was particularly noteworthy because the first internees had
in here and maybe they’ll avoid the dust kick up from the ground, arrived only four months earlier. Recruiting the assistance of neighbors,
and put the water in. That’ll cool off, little bit, and put lot of rock friends, and the WRA, Katsuki constructed a lavish garden that boasted
around. And they could sit on there, and wait ‘til the mess hall’s four lakes, multiple bridges, nine Joshua trees, and a rock garden
open.” They ring the bell but they have to stand on line, see. So that (Manzanar Free Press 30 June 1942, 4).
make it much easier for people to wait for. (Ueno 1994)
The personal garden of
Shortly after construction began next to the Block 22 mess hall, former Yasusuke Kogita, located in
nurseryman Akira Nishi—brother to Kuichiro Nishi, who had worked Minidoka’s Block 5, may be
on Merritt Park—joined the project to lend his expertise in pond building. the most famous of the
In its final form, the Block 22 mess hall garden featured an eighty-foot entryway gardens. Kogita’s
pond, a wishing well, and numerous live carp (Figure 5). Ueno and Nishi garden included an
dubbed the park “Otowanotaki” after a pond in Kyoto, Japan (Ueno 1994). impressive array of willows,
bonsai sagebrush, native
Other blocks rushed to replicate the aquatic plants, and a variety
beauty and the cooling properties of of annual and perennial
the Otowanotaki. When the flowers, artistically arranged
Manzanar Free Press held a contest for around two ponds (Tremayne
the best block garden, the Block 34 Figure 6.—William Katsuki works in his and Shallat 2013) (Figure 7).
mess hall garden took first place, Manzanar garden with materials salvaged from The most impressive feature,
boasting “generous green slopes and the desert landscape. Photo by Dorothea Lange, however, was a one-ton lava
dip, fish pond and different 1942 (Densho Digital Repository). tube known as “Stove-Pipe
greenery” (Manzanar Free Press 5 Rock.” It took Kogita a week
November 5 1942, 2). Even if the to pry free the lava tube from its bed and required the help of his two
gardens did not reach the grandeur preteen sons to haul it back from the sage lands in a handcart (Eaton
of Otowanotaki, it is undeniable 1952). When the camp closed in 1945, he hired trucks to haul all the
they provided a transformative force. rocks and most of the plants to Seattle, where he reinstalled the garden
While Nikkei were forced to in front of a hotel he purchased. The garden has since been moved,
converge on the mess halls, the currently existing in the front yard of his son, Paul Kogita (Tamura 2004).
gardens created a more beautiful and
Figure 5.—The wishing well and pond at pleasant gathering place for both Figure 7.—Yasusuke
Block 22’s mess hall garden can be seen, meals and community events. Many Kogita, second from the
1942 (Jack Iwata Collection, Japanese adhered to the Momoyana style, left, stands in the garden
American National Museum). popularized in sixteenth-century he created, 1944 (Densho
Japan, following a north-south axis Digital Repository).
with elements arranged as energy, direction, color, and numbers
(NPSPWR 2006, 132).
Entryway Gardens
As opposed to parks and mess hall gardens, both of which were created
for the enjoyment of the wider Nikkei community in the camps, personal
entryway gardens were made for the pleasure of the gardener and their
family. Some of the most spectacular floral displays were housed within
entryway gardens. At Manzanar, the first entryway garden was created in
80 The California Geographer • Volume 60, 2021 Suto and Voeks: Uprooted: Gardening and Landscaping 81Garden Materials features, such as Kogita’s Stove-Pipe Rock (Eaton 1952). Irrigation water
Given the overall strain on resources during wartime, not to mention the was recycled from the laundry buildings, and cement from ponds was
constraints of living in an internment camp, ascertaining necessary salvaged from dust where a pile of sacks had leaked—and occasionally
materials for camp gardens represented a considerable challenge. This stolen from other WRA projects (Hosokawa 1942; Eaton 1952; Ueno
was a point of contention at the time for citizens living near the camps. 1994). And to adorn the lakes, fish, mussels, and frogs were captured from
Internment gardens were viewed as “luxuries” offered to “enemy aliens.” nearby irrigation canals (Hosokawa 1942).
Why were internees receiving special treatment, while the average
American citizen was subject to rationing? Why should the taxpayer Plant Species
provide something as frivolous as flowers to “the enemy”? Using camp internee accounts, other contemporary reports, and the
findings of later researchers, we identified 100 types of plants that were
The answer is that Nikkei internees by and large were not being cultivated in the camp gardens. These may have included many more
“provided” with gardens by the government. Internees were highly botanical species, as several were referenced simply by their generic
self-reliant when sourcing materials for their gardening and landscaping name, such as “mint,” “cactus,” or
projects. Some internees may have planned for the eventuality and “willow.” Roughly half were
brought supplies with them during the evacuation process. Because the cultivated for food, while forty-five
incarceration occurred during the spring of 1942, around the beginning percent were grown as ornamentals,
of planting season, some Nikkei employed in horticultural businesses and five percent were herbs and
seized the opportunity to bring seeds and young plants to the camps, often spices (Figure 8). Most were
stored in tins and cookware (Hosokawa 1942). Other materials would have common garden cultivars, the kind
been purchased from local nurseries and hardware stores. Gardeners such typically found in Western home
as Kogita utilized Sears-Roebuck catalogues to acquire a greater variety gardens such as broccoli, onions,
of seeds. Plants would also be mailed in by friends and acquaintances cabbage, and peas. Some may have
outside the camps. This was true of the Quaker American Friends Service been cultivated for their medicinal Figure 8.—Plant uses for 100 cultivated
Committee, who early on provided flower seeds to the internees (Eaton value, such as lavender and plants grown in internment gardens.
1952, 32). verbena. There were, however,
several food plants of East Asian origin, including azuki (red mung bean),
Primarily, however, there was an emphasis on salvaged materials, daikon (Japanese radish), gobo (burdock), napa (Chinese cabbage), and
utilizing whatever could be acquired from the landscape or spared from shungiku (edible chrysanthemum). The ornamental plants were mostly
WRA construction projects. Pine, cottonwood, Joshua tree, and willow common garden cultigens, many sourced from the surrounding deserts
trees were acquired from the local area, as were species of cactus, reed, and riparian corridors. However, several had particular significance for
mint, spurge, goosefoot, sunflower, sagebrush, and cattails (Hosokawa Japanese people and their diaspora, especially chrysanthemum, cherry
1942). When searching for plants to furnish gardens, not even weeds were trees, camellias, Chinese elm, daffodils, dogwood, gladiolus, pines, and
overlooked. Kogita was proud of the wild sunflower that dominated his wisteria.
garden, introduced, he noted, “by some bird” (cited in Eaton 1952, 92).
Remembering her mother’s arrival at the Puyallup Assembly Center in The life forms found in internee gardens were mostly what might be
Washington, Monica Itoi Sone said, expected. About three-quarters of the plants were herbaceous, another
eight percent shrubs. But the large portion of trees (eighteen percent) is
Dandelions were already pushing their way up through the cracks surprising, given the long life of most trees and the limited time that
[in the cement]. Mother was delighted when she saw their shaggy internees were incarcerated (Figure 9). Many were fruit trees, such as
yellow heads. “Don’t let anyone pick them. I’m going to cultivate apple and pear varietals, but others were planted for aesthetic
them.” (Sone 1953, 517) improvement, such as birch, cedar, cottonwood, Joshua tree, and willow.
Regardless of how humble an individual plant may have seemed, it was
prized and carefully tended. Internees also scoped the local desert,
mountains, or sagebrush habitats for rocks and other interesting mineral
82 The California Geographer • Volume 60, 2021 Suto and Voeks: Uprooted: Gardening and Landscaping 83Discussion (Hosokawa 1942). Thus, on a basic level, gardens were created to help
Gardens are embedded in the make the camps livable. Indeed, one factor the WRA considered when
cultural fabric of sedentary siting an internment camp was the land’s potential for agricultural
societies. They supply a host of development.
benefits—material and spiritual—
for garden tenders and their family The skills possessed by many Japanese immigrants in horticulture and
and friends. For immigrants landscaping were widely recognized. Government agents reasoned that
confronted by cultural, social, and improvements made by the internees would yield benefits to the nation
physical challenges, gardens often when the war ended (Helphand 2006). At the Amache camp, for example,
Figure 9.—Lifeforms of 100 cultivated constitute a crucial element in elementary school children developed and implemented a landscaping
plants grown in internment gardens. maintaining traditional relations plan to address the frequent dust storms. With the help of adults, 700
with constructed nature, creating a students gathered limestone to create walking paths through the camp
nostalgic and meaningful sense of place in their adopted landscapes. and planted green rye, flowering cactus, wildflowers, and yucca to reduce
Studies among California diaspora have explored the supportive role of wind erosion and dust in this otherwise “desolate looking scene” (Dumas
garden spaces in maintaining traditions of their homelands. Indian and Walther 1944, 41). As noted by Clark and Shew (2020, 12), internees
immigrants in Southern California, for example, recreate aspects of not only modified Amache’s desolate landscape, they “radically
Hindu religious spaces by cultivating spiritually significant trees and transformed it.”
shrubs (Mazumdar and Mazumdar 2008). Recently arrived and elderly
Hmong in Sacramento cultivate traditional vegetables and herbs in home Gardening also was a means for improving physical and mental health
gardens to foster a sense of personal value in an otherwise alienating at the camps. According to internees, the fresh vegetables produced by
urban setting (Corlett, Dean, and Grivetti 2003). Herbs and spices, which victory gardens enhanced nutrition among the Nikkei. Reflecting on her
play a central role in Indian cooking and Ayurvedic medicine, are often experience at Santa Anita temporary assembly centers, former internee
cultivated in home gardens of Indian immigrants in Southern California Florence Nakamura reported that food provided by the WRA was
(Joseph and Voeks 2020). In Irvine, the ethnic identities of residents are typically of poor quality and unvaried, but meals improved substantially
intertwined with the composition of edible and medicinal plant species once victory gardeners began yielding produce (Nakamura 2001, 42).
in their gardens, many associated with their homelands (Stavropoulos Nikkei internees attributed further benefits to both the physical act of
2012). And the home gardens of Mexican immigrants in Los Angeles and gardening and being surrounded by nature. For example, at a meeting of
Riverside are reservoirs of unique maize varieties growing beyond their victory gardeners, a man identified as Mr. Terui attested, “When I came
centers of diversity (Heraty and Ellstrand 2016). here [to Heart Mountain], I was suffering from an indigestion. Now I feel
fine after 3 or 4 months spent digging every evening in the victory garden”
The internment of Japanese Americans represents a compelling example (HMVG 1943). Indeed, studies suggest that fostering connections with
of immigrants using gardens to rekindle a sense of place in an alien and nature—such as cultivating a garden—can boost health and aid in
hostile landscape. The hardships and obstacles encountered were legion, recovering from surgery (Hartig and Marcus 2006; Mazumdar and
yet they were motivated to create islands of green in the arid and semi- Mazumdar 2012). Nikkei internees likely recognized these healing
arid landscapes of the western U.S. Reflecting on her arrival at Topaz features, as evidenced by the creation of a garden complex adjacent to
internment camp when just a twenty-one-year-old recent graduate of UC Manzanar’s hospital in 1943 by Zintaro Ogami and Ryozo Kado (Figure
Berkeley, Yoshiko Uchida stated, “All vegetation stopped. There were no 7). This complex included a variety of transplanted trees, rock gardens, a
trees or grass or growth of any kind, only clumps of dry skeletal stream and pond, and benches so patients could rest while immersing
greasewood…as bare as a bleached bone” (Uchida 1982, 107). Uchida’s themselves in nature.
reaction was typical. Across the concentration camps, Nikkei were
shocked specifically by the lack of plant life (Helphand 2006). Equally More profound were the effects gardens had on the mental and emotional
enlightening was commentary in a report for the WRA Community health of internees. The internment experience—accused of being traitors
Analysis Section: “Minidoka was desiccated, drab and dusty. But life is to their country, then uprooted from their homes and imprisoned in
not worth living for these people unless they have some green to cultivate” temporary relocation centers unfit for human habitation—was
84 The California Geographer • Volume 60, 2021 Suto and Voeks: Uprooted: Gardening and Landscaping 85traumatizing for the Nikkei. Arrival at the permanent camps was “an ordinary American city” and signaling that internees were becoming
marginally better, leaving impressions that ranged from “discouraging” more like ordinary Americans rather than enemy aliens (Chiang 2018).
and “dreary” to “shocking” and “staggering” (Helphand 2006). Even the Indeed, some gardens overtly displayed American patriotism. The garden
camp administrator at Minidoka acknowledged in his personal diary that at the entrance to Minidoka, for example, featured boulders arranged in
“this dull dreary experience in a desert region surely must give these the shape of an eagle and an Honor Roll board that listed the names of
people a feeling of helplessness, hopelessness, and despair which we on 1,000 internees who had enrolled in the U.S. military (Tamura 2004).
the outside do not and will not ever fully understand” (Kleinkopf 1942, The patriotic garden was designed by Fujitaro Kubota, who in later years
3). would become a famed gardener and winner of Japan’s “Order of the
Sacred Treasure” for fostering respect for Japanese gardening. The
Internees were especially concerned about the mental health of their internees at Minidoka perhaps hoped that the garden would serve as an
children. Shoji Nagumo, former head of the League of Southern ambassador speaking to visitors on behalf of the Nikkei.
California Japanese-American Gardeners, stated, “When I thought about
children being raised in the desert without grass or trees, I was sure they In more cases, however, internment garden and landscaping efforts
would become human beings who could not feel joy or pleasure in should be viewed as acts of resistance. The sheer act of
anything. They might even grow up not understanding the beauty of gardening—claiming a space designated for a specific purpose, modifying
nature” (quoted in Hirahara 2000, 55). While incarcerated, Nagumo it, and thereby taking ownership—is an assertion of agency and inherently
became the driving force behind the planting of poplar trees at Heart a political act. As Helphand (2006, 198) notes, internment gardens
Mountain and established a highly successful community victory garden. represented “the anticamp, where acts of cultural identity could be
An camp superintendent reported that young girls, seeing flowers in his construed as subversive to those in power.” Gardens were often situated
office, “fairly fell upon their knees and worshipped the flowers” in vacant areas between buildings, designated as firebreaks by the WRA.
(Kleinkopf 1942, 3). Though seemingly subtle, by choosing to place their gardens in the
firebreaks, internees were displaying disrespect for WRA authority.
Japanese symbols were deliberately integrated into these garden Moreover, the inclusion of fences in entryway gardens helped the Nikkei
landscapes, both as a source of cultural pride and as moral support for reclaim some privacy and power (Garrison 2015).
the internees. Motifs harkening turtles—symbols of endurance in
Japanese culture—were integrated into internee gardens through the use Inasmuch as resources allowed, camp gardeners employed traditional
of boulders that resembled the reptile (Dusselier 2008; Chiang 2018). Japanese gardening techniques and aesthetics. Whereas Western
Many gardens with ponds contained live fish, including one with more gardening aesthetics typically focus on symmetry and order, traditional
than sixty large carp, and some were stocked with turtles (Manzanar Free Japanese gardens aim to recreate “nature in miniature.” Using the
Press 28 September 1942, 2). According to internee Yataro Okuno, the natural world as inspiration, Japanese landscaping tends to be
carp is “an emblem of an undaunted spirit to get over any hardship which asymmetrical and flowing, encouraging viewers to walk slowly and
may come in front of you” (1942, 18). meditate on their surroundings (Morse 1961; Tamura 2004; Tremayne
and Shallat 2013; Garrison 2015; Chiang 2018). The WRA interpreted
In an environment where overt political statements could threaten one’s widespread implementation of gardens as signs of the Americanization
safety, gardening and landscaping projects in the camps served as a way of internees, but the opposite was the case: Nikkei rejected Western
for the Nikkei to express their opinions on the war and their landscaping techniques and embraced traditional Japanese gardening
confinement. On the one hand, the act of gardening signaled loyalty to styles as celebration and pride in their heritage, even while being
the U.S. and a willingness to follow the authority of the WRA. punished for their ethnicity. Internment gardens were Japanese,
Landscaping and gardening projects improved the public lands that the celebrating Japanese heritage, as the administrative gardens reflected the
camps were located on, thus serving the American taxpaying public. And rigidity of the U.S. government.
allowing internees to have gardens made the WRA’s treatment of the
Nikkei appear more humane to outside observers (Tamura 2004; Internees were aware of the political implications of these aesthetics.
Helphand 2006). Gardens also suggested to the WRA that their Criticizing a garden built in a racetrack at the Tanforan Assembly Center,
“Americanization” campaign was working, making camps look more like internee Charles Kikuchi in 1942 wrote in his diary that the
86 The California Geographer • Volume 60, 2021 Suto and Voeks: Uprooted: Gardening and Landscaping 87whole thing looks like old Japan. Some people just can’t divorce Cherry trees are probably the most visible Japanese landscape elements
themselves from Japan and cling to the old traditions and ways. The in the Americas, which can be traced to the 1912 gifting of 6,000 cherry
garden is an outward indication of this sentiment for Japan. The trees by Japan to the United States. Half were planted in Washington,
odds are that the builder of the garden is pro-Japan, although he D.C., and half in New York’s Central Park (Pooler 2011). Their ubiquity
may have built it for cultural reasons. (1973, 132) in the internment gardens testifies to a continuation of Japanese botanical
traditions, as well as the fruitful relationship that existed between Japan
As Kikuchi acknowledges, political statements may not have been the and the U.S. before WWII. They are at once parallel signs of cultural
primary motivation for building any particular garden, but the use of resistance and of assimilation.
Japanese aesthetics inherently conveyed a commentary on the war.
Complementing the ornamental plants that adorned internment gardens,
Cultural Continuity many with ancient Japanese symbolism and meaning, were the many
Japanese culture has long been characterized by a deep and abiding edible plants. Several were Japanese cultural markers, such as napa,
appreciation of nature; not wild nature necessarily, according to Kalland daikon, gobo, and azuki, that encouraged culinary connections with
(2014), but rather a tamed and controlled nature, manifested in their homeland. Food is a fundamental medium for the expression of cultural
gardens. Archaeological evidence suggests that gardens have been a part identity and collective belonging (Narayan 1995). Traditional foods not
of Japanese culture for several thousand years, and the art of gardens and only create a sense of community, but also establish a sense of otherness,
gardening has been codified in Japan for at least one thousand years. in this case an apartness from their American oppressors (Fischler 2011).
While home gardens serve basic needs, including the provision of Cultivating traditional vegetables in internment gardens may seem a
healthful herbs and spices, vegetables, and shade, the development of a relatively benign activity, but in many ways, it was silent rebellion.
garden aesthetic is a deeply engrained Japanese tradition (Goto and Naka
2016; Thacker 1979). Specific elements found in Japanese Most plants cultivated in internment gardens were annuals and
gardens—flowers, trees, rocks, steppingstones, teahouses, and waterfalls— herbaceous, characterizing most vegetables, grains, and tubers. However,
carry profound symbolic meaning. Over the centuries, new garden the interned Nikkei also cultivated scores of trees. Some, such as willows
techniques merged with earlier traditions, but many of the earliest motifs and cottonwoods, served as shade or pond ornamentation. Others, such
and symbols have been retained. Thus, the placement of symbolic islands, as pines, cherry trees, and Chinese elms, represented cultural connections
turtles, carp, and cranes, all present at Manzanar and other camps, as to ancient Japanese symbols and festivals. Still others, such as apples,
well as the specific arrangement of steppingstones, reveals the replication pears, and elderberries, were cultivated for food. But the cultivation of
of age-old Japanese garden traditions in the internment camps (Beckwith long-lived perennials by people who did not anticipate being held captive
2013). Other camps, such as Poston in Arizona, similarly combined water in these hostile landscapes for long raises questions: Why introduce trees
and rock and plant life, but with less attention to replication of Japanese they would not see grow into adulthood? Were the Nikkei in fact
motifs, and more attention to meeting the needs of internee children expecting long internment? Was their love of certain trees so deep that
(Eaton 1952, 74). even one or two years of shared existence was sufficient to justify the
effort? Or did internees somehow hope that the trees would be loved and
Flowering plants have been a Japanese preoccupation for many centuries. cared for long after their departure? Thomas Fuller, an Englishman
The art of Japanese flower arrangement (ikebana) is at least one thousand writing in the eighteenth century, perhaps offers some explanation: “He
years old, and flower viewing is a national pastime. During hanami that plants trees, loves others beside himself” (1732, 91). Indeed, trees
festivals, for example, groups gather in pleasure gardens and parks to planted by interned Nikkei still survive at the remains of Amache and
appreciate cherry blossoms, which are associated with Japan’s early Manzanar.
monarchs. The country’s earliest poetry often meditates on “the fleeting
beauty of the cherry blossom” (Thacker 1979, 63), long symbolizing “the Conclusion
beauty of a brief life well lived” (McClellan 2005, 10), embraced by The Japanese who immigrated to the United States in the early twentieth
samurai as well as WWII Japanese kamikaze pilots as symbols of a short century found success in agriculture and horticulture. They came from a
but meaningful existence. homeland in which gardens and their various elements—trees, flowers,
rocks, and water—were deeply symbolic of longstanding relations with
88 The California Geographer • Volume 60, 2021 Suto and Voeks: Uprooted: Gardening and Landscaping 89constructed nature. Interned in camps throughout the U.S. West during Dunmire, W. W. 2004. Gardens of New Spain: How Mediterranean Plants and
the Second World War, the Nikkei survived in part by recreating Foods Changed America. Austin: University of Texas Press.
traditional relations with cultivated nature. Gardening and landscaping Dusselier, J. E. 2008. Artifacts of Loss: Crafting Survival in Japanese-American
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